Ferrari on pole at Le Mans after 50 years

Two Ferraris will set off from the front of the grid in the world’s most famous endurance race. This also happened at the last official appearance in 1973, when Arturo Merzario and Carlos Pace posted the fastest time in the 312 PB ahead of Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman in the same prototype.

The 499Ps occupied the top spots right from the opening stages of the Hyperpole, held in dry track conditions with an asphalt temperature of 28.9°C. Alessandro Pier Guidi raced against the clock in the number 51 Hypercar, posting a time of 3’23”897 on his first lap to take the provisional lead. Despite the traffic on the track in the session open to the best eight cars in each class of Wednesday’s qualifying session, the 39-year-old driver then cut the time to 3’23”755 for the crew completed by James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi.

In the second part of the thirty-minute timed session, Antonio Fuoco narrowed the gap on his teammate, first stopping the clock just 0’008 behind Pier Guidi, then completing a lap in 3’22”982. The time set by the Italian driver, who shares the cockpit with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, earned the Prancing Horse a historic pole position on its return to compete for overall victory at the La Sarthe circuit after half a century’s absence. This is the Ferrari - AF Corse team’s second pole of the season after Fuoco’s in the opening round at Sebring.

Antonio Fuoco : It’s something special to take pole position in a race that marks Ferrari’s return to the top endurance class of the most famous race. I think the entire team has done something fantastic in enabling our two Hypercars to take the front row. Now we’re enjoying this moment. We all deserve it, but we know we have a long and challenging race ahead of us. We’ll have to stay very focused and give our all.

Alessandro Pier Guidi : As a team, I don’t think there was a better way to return to Le Mans. Securing a red front row repays us all for the hard work we’ve put in over the past year without a break and always focused on our goals. My first attempt went very well, but I hit some traffic on my second one, and the lap wasn’t ideal for trying to improve the time.

Antonello Coletta (Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti) : We are delighted with this result, fifty years after our previous appearance in the top class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Tonight after the Hyperpole, we are enjoying a fantastic moment, the fruit of exceptional work. From tomorrow we will think about the race, which will be long, and where several factors, first and foremost reliability, could prove decisive. I want to thank the entire team, from the technicians to the mechanics to the sporting and commercial areas. The immense effort put in by everyone has allowed us to be where we are less than a year after our 499P’s first shakedown.

Ferdinando Cannizzo (Head of Endurance Race Cars) : Taking first and second place in the Hyperpole is an indescribable feeling. The credit goes to the entire team, from the drivers to the mechanics and engineers who enabled us to achieve this, something not just the result of one day but of months of intense work. We are incredibly proud but know there’s still a long way to go. The 24 Hours of Le Mans won’t be a easy race. There will be many key factors, starting with reliability, because these hypercars are complex, and attention to detail will prove decisive. We’ll also need to pay special attention to the choice of tyres and at the same time correctly read the weather, which will be variable from start to finish, according to the current forecast.